It turns out, Roblox isn’t just for fun and games. Here’s how it was used to digitize real-life artworks!
| From the desk of Miles Everson: Hello! Welcome to today’s “Gorillas of Guerrilla Marketing!” For those of you who may not know, guerrilla marketing is an unconventional strategy that encourages marketers to leverage out-of-the-box strategies when engaging with their target audience. I’m a fan of this strategy because it shows just how effective unconventional strategies can be in marketing a brand, offering, or initiative. Today, I’ll talk about a digital guerrilla marketing campaign that made art appealing and intriguing to a younger audience! Keep reading below! |
It turns out, Roblox isn’t just for fun and games. Here’s how it was used to digitize real-life artworks! Art occupies an important place in society as it serves as a platform for expressing creativity and communicating ideas. Artistic works expose members of society to ideas that entertain, challenge, and inspire all at the same time. Yet despite its importance, art has seen a decline in importance among the youth in recent years. While it’s easy to point to social media and the rise of other entertainment mediums as culprits, there’s another reason as to why art is seeing less importance. Art is seeing less emphasis in school systems across the globe partly due to funding cuts and increasing emphasis on Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics (STEM) subjects. With all these, it becomes increasingly challenging to showcase art to the youth. This is why in 2023, telecommunications firm Verizon and the Metropolitan Museum of Art (commonly known as the Met ), teamed up to bridge the gap in art education and foster curiosity about the arts among the youth. How? By digitizing pieces of art and other culturally-significant artifacts! … and here’s the twist: This virtual recreation was hosted on Roblox , a popular video game among teens!
Roblox is a popular video game among teenagers under the age of 19. The game is highly popular among younger demographics because players can create custom games on the platform, which can be shared to other players. Within these custom games, called “experiences,” users can recreate real-world and fictional events, places, and objects! … and this unique feature of Roblox is what made it the ideal platform to host the digital recreations of artifacts and art pieces featured in the Met. Here’s how the Met and Verizon pulled it off: Both parties worked with curators who had galleries within the Met to digitize 40 real-world artifacts into Roblox items. Once these artifacts were converted into Roblox items, the Met and Verizon created an app that sent children on an educational scavenger hunt within the museum. To make things fun, over 152 educational clues were scattered throughout the Met. Users who were able to follow clues were led to artworks that could be scanned and unlocked on Roblox.
A virtual recreation of the Met and a few of its exhibits were also made available on Roblox for visitors and those who couldn’t make it to the Met physically. To generate hype before the launch of the app and the Roblox exhibit, creative assets were posted on the Met’s social media accounts, website announcements were deployed, and marketing cards and digital displays were put in place in the museum. These promotional materials contained a call-to-action and a QR code that let museum visitors download the app. Leading up to the launch of the exhibit, the campaign team began advertising using creative assets on The Met social handles, website comms, and museum stanchions. So, was all this effort worth it? The answer is a resounding YES ! The Met and Verizon’s campaign delivered a 35% increase in foot traffic. It also led to an additional 200,000 new visitors for the Met. Last but not least, the campaign generated 1.4 billion impressions, a clear sign that it made waves on social media! — There is no denying that interest in the arts has waned in recent years. Yet, today’s always-on, digitally driven landscape holds the key to reversing that trend. You don’t need to just take our word for it; the results from the Met and Verizon’s campaign speak for themselves. More importantly, the campaign’s success presents a blueprint for fostering art appreciation among a younger audience. Hope you’ve found this week’s guerrilla marketing insight interesting and helpful. Stay tuned for next Thursday’s Gorillas of Guerrilla Marketing! Do you want to know how one condiment brand gave its fans a taste of literally EVERYTHING ? See it in next week’s article! |
Miles Everson
CEO of MBO Partners and former Global Advisory and Consulting CEO at PwC, Everson has worked with many of the world's largest and most prominent organizations, specializing in executive management. He helps companies balance growth, reduce risk, maximize return, and excel in strategic business priorities.
He is a sought-after public speaker and contributor and has been a case study for success from Harvard Business School.
Everson is a Certified Public Accountant, a member of the American Institute of Certified Public Accountants and Minnesota Society of Certified Public Accountants. He graduated from St. Cloud State University with a B.S. in Accounting.
